NOTE: These cemeteries that the D.A.R. transcribed were given a chronological number as they were completed.  This additional information has been added next to the cemetery. (2003)

Ada Township
Ada Cemetery. Section 28. (#15)
Findlay Cemetery. Section 9.  (#14)

Algoma Township
Algoma Cemetery. Section 21. (#11)
Briggs Cemetery. Section 24. (#79)
    (Private cemetery-Abandoned.)

Alpine Township
Alpine Cemetery (a.k.a. Pine Grove). Section 13. (#5)
Alpine Town Hall Cemetery. Section 22. (#6)
     (Pioneers buried here.)
Englishville Cemetery. Section 1. (#7)
Holy Trinity. Section 26. (#13)
Saur Cemetery (Prive, Abandoned). Section 17. (#8)

Bowne Township
Bowne Cemetery. Section 16. (#58)
Mennonite Cemetery. Section 13. (59)

Byron Township
Boynton Cemetery. Section 8. (#54)
St. Sebastian Catholic Cemetery. Section 29. (#53)
Gilbert Cemetery. Section 24. (#55)
Winchester Cemetery. Section 14. (#51)
Winegar Cemetery. Section 29. (#52)
Kent Memorial. Section 23.  (#102)

Caledonia Township
Alaska Cemetery. Section 8. [*Sec. 5]  (#47)
Barber Cemetery. Section 26. (#48)
Caledonia Cemetery. Section 29. (#38)
St. Patrick's Catholic Cemetery. Section 25. [*Sec. 23] (#49)
Daniels Cemetery. Section 24. [*Sec. 25] (#50)
Holy Corners Cemetery. Section 18. (#22)

Cannon Township
Bostwick Cemetery. Section 13. [*Sec. 14]  (#67)
     (Bostwick Lake Township Cemetery.)
Cannonsburg Cemetery. Section 22.  (#65)
Marshall Cemetery. Section 14. [*Sec. 11]  (#66)
     (Bostwick Lake Church Cemetery-Pioneer Cemetery.)

[*See letter from supervisor saying that he has never heard of cemetery on sec. 14 called Marshall cemetery. The existence of a fourth cemetery in Cannon Twp. Seems likely from a check of our records with Mr. Hall's.]

Cascade Township
Cascade Cemetery. Section 16.  (#1)
St. Mary's Catholic Cemetery. Section 21. [*Sec. 31]  (#31)
Snow Cemetery. Section 13.  (#56)
Teeple Cemetery. Section 7. (This burial grounds was moved to Cascade Cemetery,
   a.k.a. as Cook Cemetery.)  (#3)
Whitneyville Cemetery. Section 35. (#21)

Courtland Township.
Courtland Cemetery. Section 22. (#72)
Old Rockford Cemetery. Section 31. (#25)

Gaines Township.
Blain Cemetery. Section 5.  (#26)
Dutton Cemetery. Section 11. (#24)
Gaines Cemetery. Section 21. (#19)

Grand Rapids Township.
Fairplains Cemetery. Section 8. (#77)
Fulton Cemetery. City of Grand Rapids. (#85)
Graceland Cemetery. Section 36. (#99)
Martin Cemetery. Section 36. (#4)
Mason Cemetery. Section 11. (#74)
Oak Hill Cemetery. City of Grand Rapids. (#88)
  (Valley City and Oak Hill Cemeteries are now under the name of Oak Hill)
St. Andrews Cemetery. City of Grand Rapids.  (/390
Soldiers Home Cemetery. Section 6. (#98)

Grattan Township.
Ashley Cemetery. Section 2. (#69)
Grattan Center Cemetery. Section 16. (#68)
Mason Cemetery. Section 23.  (#70)
Parnell Cemetery. Section 32. (#97)

Lowell Township
Lowell Cemetery. Section 2.  (#62)
McBride Cemetery. Section 23. (#57)
Merriman Cemetery. Section 32. [*Sec. 33]  (46)
Rolfe Cemetery. Section 6. [*Sec. 7]  (#60
Wright Cemetery. Section 4. [Sec. 4]  (#61)

Nelson Township
St. Mary's Catholic Cemetery. N.E. quarter Section 9. (#28)
East Nelson Cemetery. S.E. quarter Section 23.  (#29)
Punches Cemetery. N.E. quarter Section 19.  (#30)
Sand lake Cemetery. N.E. quarter Section 5.  (#27)
     (Sand Lake Village)

Oakfield Township
Chapel Cemetery. Section 16. (a.k.a. Oakfield) (#64)
Horton Cemetery. Section 8. [*Sec. 19]  (#71)
White Swan Cemetery. Section 19. [*Sec. 8]  (#63)
Tower Cemetery (#103) (not found - probably a private cemetery.)

Paris Township
County Poor Farm Cemetery. Section 16.  (# 96)
Garfield Cemetery. City of Grand Rapids.  (#81)
Oak Grove Cemetery. Section 8.  (#17)
Pine Hill Cemetery. Section 32.  (#16)
Restlawn Cemetery. Section 17.  (#95
Valley City Cemetery. City of Grand Rapids.  (#89)
(Oak Hill and Valley City Cemeteries were combined under the name of Oak Hill.)
Woodlawn Cemetery. City of Grand Rapids.  (#94

Plainfield Township
Blessed Assumption Catholic Cemetery. N.E. quarter Section 16.  (#82)
Livingston Cemetery. S.E. quarter Section 15.   (#37)
(a.k.a. Plainfield Township Cemetery)
Oakwood Cemetery. S. E. quarter Section 23.  (#20)
Rockford Cemetery. N.E. quarter Section 1. (#78)
Friant Cemetery. Section 23.  (#101)
Blythefield Memorial  (#104)

Solon Township
Elmwood Cemetery. S.E. quarter Section 36.  (#75)
     (Village Cedar Springs)
Solon Cemetery. S.W. quarter Section 22.  (#73)

Sparta Township
Greenwood Cemetery. Section 23. [*Sec. 15]  (#23)
Lisbon Cemetery. Section 30.  (#9)
Myers Cemetery. Section 13.  (#12)
Sparta Cemetery. Section 23.  (#10)
(Now known as Fairplains Cemetery.)

Spencer Township
St. Margaret's Catholic Cemetery. Section 31.  (#31)
DeGraw Cemetery. (Private-abandoned) Section 31.  (#32)
Spencer Mills Cemetery. Section 27.  (#33)

Tyrone Township
Idlewild Cemetery. Section 27.  (#35)
Pinewood Cemetery. Section 8. (a.ka. Chubbuck Cemetery) (#36)

Vergennes Township.
Alton Cemetery. Section 2.  (#45)
Bailey Cemetery. Section 20.  (#40)
St. Mary's Catholic Cemetery. Section 35. [*Sec. 34]  (#41)
Fallasburg Cemetery. Section 24.  (#44)
Foxes Corners Cemetery. Section 35. [*Sec. 34]  (#42)
Yerkus Cemetery. Section 32.  (#39)

Walker Township
Ahavis Achim. Section 14.  (#92)
  (Located in Washington Park Cemetery.)
Brooklawn Cemetery. Section 4.  (#2)
Freedom Lithuanian Cemetery. Section 14.  (#93)
  (Located in Washington Park Cemetery.)
Greenwood Cemetery. City of Grand Rapids.  (#84)
Holy Cross Cemetery. Section 15.  (#100)  (This cemetery was originally) 
  (White Cemetery, then the Polish Cemetery and now is Holy Cross Cemetery.)
Mill Creek Cemetery. Section 1.  (#76)
Mt. Calvary Cemetery. City of Grand Rapids.  (#86)
Polish Catholic Cemetery. Section 15. (# (See Holy Cross Cemetery)
River Bend Cemetery. Section 6.  (#18)
Sts. Peter and Paul Lithuanian Cemetery. Section 14.  (#91)
  (Located in Washington Park Cemetery.)
Washington Park Cemetery. Section 14.  (#87)
White Cemetery. Section 15.  (See Holy Cross Cemetery)  

Rosedale Memorial Park - O-50 Lake Michigan Drive
Located in Ottawa County west of Walker on Lake Michigan Drive.
There are many burials from Kent County.

Wyoming Township
Resurrection Catholic Cemetery. Section 24. [*Sec. 13]  (#83)
Grandville Cemetery. Section 17.  (#80)

[*Sec. no. secured from township clerks by Mr. Francis Hall, who is marking soldiers' graves. Our sec. nos. were secured from the township supervisors.]

By Goldie Baughman Welsh
Chairman during the progress of the whole work, 1925-1932, except in the years when she was Regent, during which years the Chairman was Mrs. Maude E. Sherman.

After visiting various cemeteries I became much concerned over the fact that the only data in regard to many of the pioneers of the middle western states was the inscriptions of the tombstones, and that these were fat disappearing on account of weathering. A very few years only and they would be lost irremediably to posterity.

The Genealogical Committee of the Michigan Pioneer and historical Society, the Grand Rapids Public Library, the Historical Society, and the Sophie de Marsac Chapter were all aware of this condition and also much concerned.

In 1916 Miss Annie Archer Pollard, of the Grand Rapids Public Library, read a paper before the Historical Society of Grand Rapids called "Vital Records of Kent County" in which she sketched the scope of the work of gathering the vital records of this county. The paper was the outcome of the work of the Genealogical Committee of that Society of which she was Chairman and of which Mrs. Florence Cutcheon McKee and Miss Rebecca Richmond were also members. This paper showed the deplorable condition of marriage records in Kent County before 1887 when the marriage license law went into effect; and of birth and death records before 1906 when a state law went into effect requesting instant report and registration of births and deaths.

In 1923 she prepared another paper for the Michigan Pioneer and Historical Society called "Michigan as a Field for Genealogical Work." For the preparation of this paper she had statements from the clerks of all the counties of Michigan as to the dates of their vital records which showed that the condition of Vital Records in most of the other counties was a grave as that of Kent County.

These papers had brought this matter to the attention of the Library and the Historical Society of Grand Rapids. And both of these papers she read before the Sophie de Marsac Chapter.

In 1925 the Vital Records Committee of the Sophie de Marsac Chapter, of which I was the first Chairman, presented a practical proposition for copying the gravestone records which was approved by the Chapter and the work started. At that time, as the magnitude of the work presented itself, we had little hope that the record of every tombstone in Kent County could be copied. It is, therefore, on account of the persistence and industry of the indefatigable committee that this arduous and almost insurmountable task has been concluded.

We proposed that the members of the Committee could personally copy the records from the stones. The work of copying the records, collecting the data, re-checking, and re-reading was given gratis. The Chapter consented to finance the work as so far as buying the catalog cards and paying a typist. The Library, believing that a typed list of the records of each cemetery would be a great addition to its historical collection, decided to furnish the service of one of the assistants in the Michigan Room - Miss Seaman - for this work. The Library also sought through the township clerks and supervisors to obtain a complete list of the cemeteries in the county, their accurate names, and their location by sections. Besides the services of a librarian, the Library furnished heavy bond paper upon which to make these lists and bought six loose leaf leather books to house them in the Michigan Room of the Ryerson Library building. While making lists for its own use, the Library also made two carbon copies, one for the Burton Historical Collection and the other for us.

As fast as they were copied into lists we sent the cards themselves to the Michigan State Library at Lansing; but in 193 we requested their return to Grand Rapids, and presented them to the Grand Rapids Public Library. The Library then agreed to make an extra carbon copy for the State Library of any of the new lists that were made.

We understand that the library expects to arrange them all in one alphabet and thus provide in one dictionary arrangement a mammoth card file of Kent County tombstone records for the work of future genealogists and historians.

We finally worked out a plan for gathering, checking, and re-checking, which resulted in what we hope and believe is a satisfactory compilation, as accurate as is humanly possible.

Each member of the Committee who was to copy was provided with a standard-sized notebook. Before leaving the cemetery each member exchanged her notebook with that of another and thus every member's copy was checked over by some one else.

From these notebooks cards were typed by the Chairman of the Committee and she re-checked her work by reading the cards back with the notebooks with the help of Miss Seaman.

From these cards, typewritten lists by cemeteries were made by Miss Seaman, after which they were read back by her and another librarian for accuracy and especially to eliminate typographical errors.

Anything which was probable, but at all questionable, was entered with a question mark. Thus, a grave marked "Mary" on the Jones' lot was entered:

Jones (?), Mary
(As seen in the case above, the comma limits the question mark.)

The question mark on a date is likely to mean that the date was too dim to read with certainty.

During one of the years the Committee kept track of the miles of travel and the hours of time exclusive of typing. The result showed that 28 cemeteries, or 5114 tombstone records, were taken which represented 298 miles of travel and 373 hours of time in taking.

The physical difficulty of the work may be realized when one learns that in one cemetery the stones were covered from 6 to 8 inches with loose soil formed by accumulated leaves and vines. In many cemeteries it was often necessary to use a trowel to read the inscription. Frequently the Committee found new stones set and the old ones, which were often left lying near, bore different data; in such cases we decided to copy both dates.

At this date 92 cemeteries have been completed, comprising 40,390 records, exclusive of "see" cards and "biographical information" cards. These "see" cards referred from a woman's maiden name to her married name and represented a second entry, hence they were not counted. The "biographical information" entries were for people not buried in the cemetery about whom information was given on stones in the cemetery. They were included as being valuable to genealogical workers, but they, again, were second and sometimes third entries for one stone. Were they counted, the number of entries would be increased by thousands.

To date the analysis of the number of records to a cemetery given below is of interest:

Vital Records Committees for the Years 1925-1933. Sophie de Marsac Chapter, Daughters of the American Revolution

1925 - 1926
Chairman - Mrs. Carey S. Welsh
Miss Annie A. Pollard
Mrs. Maude E. Sherman
Mrs. H. E. Fairchild.
Miss Dell Jewell
Mrs. S. W. McKee
Mrs. Chas. A. Burbridge
Mrse. J. Harper Moore
Miss Carrie Jewett

1926 - 1927
Chairman - Mrs. Carey S. Welsh
Miss Annie A. Pollard
Mrs. Maude E. Sherman
Mrs. Don Minor
Miss Dell Jewell
Mrs. Joseph Renihan
Mrs. H. E. Fairchild
Mrs. Simeon LeRoy
Mrs. Orra Chadwick
Mrs. S. W. McKee

1927 - 1928
Chairman - Mrs. Maude W. Sherman
Miss Annie A. Pollard
Miss Dell Jewell
Mrs. Orra Chadwick
Mrs. S. W. McKee
Mrs. A. J. Patton
Mrs. H. W. Becker
Mrs. Cora G. Trowbridge
Miss Julia Dickinson

1928 - 1929
Chairman - Mrs. Maude W. Sherman
Miss Annie A. Pollard
Miss Dell Jewell
Mrs. C. H. Teesdale
Miss Irene Dickinson
Mrs. A. J. Patton
Mrs. H. W. Becker
Mrs. Harvey E. Clay
Miss Julia Dickinson

1929 - 1930
Chairman - Mrs. Carey S. Welsh
Miss Annie A. Pollard
Mrs. Maude Sherman
Miss Dell Jewell
Mrs. C. H. Teesdale
Miss Irene Dickinson
Mrs. Harvey E. Clay
Mrs. A. J. Patton
Mrs. Julia Dickinson
Mrs. D. F. Helmer
Mrs. W. A. Sperry
Mrs. O. S. Nichoson

1930 - 1932
Chairman - Mrs. Carey S. Welsh
Miss Annie A. Pollard
Mrs. Maude Sherman
Mrs. A. J. Patton
Mrs. Chas. L. Dalvini
Mrs. L. P. Heystek
Mrs. W. W. Hoagland

1932 - 1933
Chairman - Mrs. Carey S. Welsh
Miss Annie A. Pollard
Mrs. Maude Sherman
Mrs. A. J. Patton
Mrs. Chas. L. Dalvini
Mrs. L. P. Heystek
Mrs. W. W. Hoagland

Statement of Samuel H. Ranck
in regard to this work in his
Annual Report of the Grand Rapids Public Library
April 1, 1927 - March 31, 1928
Pages 49 - 50

One of the most interesting features of the work in connection with the Historical Room during the year relates to the compilation of the records of all the cemeteries in Kent County, outside of Grand Rapids. It is expected to take up the early cemetery records in Grand Rapids later on. This is being done in cooperation with the D.A.R.  The Library sent letters to all the township clerks for the location of the cemeteries in their several townships, and then a committee of the D.A.R. went to the cemeteries and copied the records of all the tombstones, verifying them and checking them up with greatest care. In many cases it was found that the record books in some of the township offices were entirely destroyed, so that the only record which can be preserved is what has been taken away from these tombstones. All the records which were made in this way were copied by the D.A.R. on cards which were sent to the State Library these cards are brought to the Library and copied on sheets by one the librarians in the Historical Room. One copy is preserved here, another sent to the Burton Historical Library in Detroit, and a third goes to the local Chapter of the D.A.R. Miss Pollard, as a member of the Genealogical Committee of the D.A.R. has been very active in carrying on this work.

Annual Report of the Grand Rapids Public Library
April 1, 1930 - March 31, 1931
Pages 47-48

The work of compiling the cemetery records of Kent County has been carried on by one of the History librarians all through the year. The field work is being done by the D.A.R. and the typing and rechecking by the Library. The work in the county is practically completed, and the work on the cemeteries of the cities is well in hand. In connection with this work the Library has had fine cooperation from the members of the Board of Supervisors from the various townships, and giving us the names of the cemeteries in their townships, and giving us the locations by sections. In a number of cases, two or more names have been used, and it was very valuable to get the statement of the Supervisors of the townships as to the proper name and location. The Librarian addressed the Supervisors on this subject at one of their regular sessions in January.

Abbreviations